Dashin' Music

As far as it goes, music possesses such a powerful factor that triggers the emotion of an individual. The key, the soul, the internal feeling of music allows a person to feel some sort of sensation running through them, but have you ever wondered what happens if a book could be read through the art of music? And that reading through a novel does not only require eyesight?

Well, in this instance, we will be investigating James Dashner’s bestselling novel: The Maze Runner, and see how this literary text can be placed through a musical point of view.

It’s clear from the moment you begin reading the novel, that you are getting ready for an intense ride of action-packed drama emerging from the words written in the book itself. From the use of the horrifying, eerie Grievers to the extremely descriptive passages of fights, James Dashner was able to create a “high-tempo-like” piece of literature.

* A strikingly, supposedly, short summary:

Now first off, a summary to sum up 222 pages worth of description.

James Dashner’s - The Maze Runner tells a story of a young teenage boy: Thomas, which joins with an army of boys who are being placed into an experiment. The test involves the group to find a solution to exit the maze, which remained unsolved for the past two years. Through the arrival of Thomas, strange things began to occur around the camp, as Teresa, a girl, arrives onto the scene revealing to be the “last one” and the end of the experiment. After countless numbers of fights, miracles, and devastating deaths, Thomas and his companions managed to crack the code and pass the test.

• James Dashner’s – The Maze Runner [2009]

· Stability and order vs Change and Chaos - The art of keeping everyone together:

“Who sent me here?” Thomas demanded, fear finally giving way to anger. “How’d—” – (pg.9)

So imagine this, you are in a pre-apocalyptic world, living in a scientifically impossible labyrinth that is home to one of the world’s most terrifying man-made creatures on Earth. Surely, you would be panicking in some way, right?

Well, in this novel, the characters try to ensure that situations like these do not happen, and they do this by having a more sustained and less-conflicting society with all the members abiding by the rules set out by them. Surely you would not like to see a madman running around the place screaming his head off, don’t you?

Themes like this had been occasionally presented throughout the novel, such as Ben’s banishment into the Maze and how Thomas is needed to be punished for going against the rules of entering the Maze at an illegal time.

A musical way of showcasing this matter would be Classical Music VS Heavy Metal music.

Classical Music is known for its structural forms and highly organized and consistent melodies, similar to how Stability and order were envisioned to be delivered in the Glade. A musical example of this would be Cello Suite No.1 in G Major by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The piece itself delivers a calm, relaxing tone, just as how the Gladers believed in the concept of having an organized society.

On the other hand, Heavy Metal music is known for its constant use of distortion and loud, uncontrollable tempo and volume. Events such as Ben’s attack on Thomas and how Thomas attempts the impossible by entering the maze correlates with the chaotic style of this musical genre. A song to represent this would be Catastrophist by Trivium. Even the title of the song itself says it all!

• Ben's banishment from the Glade - Maze Runner film (2009)

· Memory and Identity:

‘“My name is Thomas,” he thought. That … that was the only thing he could remember about his life.”’ (pg.5)

Tragic isn’t it? Entering into a whole new world with only one thing left in your mind: your own name.

The sadness this delivers already brings such a sympathetic feeling amongst the readers themselves. This is what [Crying Alone by Jurrivh] brings in its own musical piece.

The depressing tone of the solo piano song brings helplessness, and sorrow, similar to how most of the Gladers felt when most of their memory is being wiped away from their minds.

However, this disadvantage results in most of the Gladers being eager to retrieve back their memories through the hard work and determination being set within the Maze. It creates a sense of reflection amongst the characters and the audience as they have to try and reflect upon their past experiences to allow them to travel down their own memory lane.

Crying Alone also reveals that sense of reflection, through the quiet, peaceful resonance created through the piece itself.

• Thomas carving his name onto the gate of the Glade - Maze Runner Film (2009)

· Sacrifice:

‘“The rest?” Thomas asked, terrified of the answer. “Half of us,” Newt said, his voice weak. “Dead.”’ (pg.201)

Losing a friend is hurtful, but losing half of your friends in a battle you all wished to win is saddening enough.

At this point, we see Thomas and a few of the Gladers being able to exit the Maze after a long, frightening battle against the Grievers. With the characters risking their lives for the sake of ensuring that others are able to succeed in the end, it is such a sorrowful feeling to bear.

For example, Thomas risks his own life to save Alby and Minho, and Gally sacrificing his own self to the Grievers to ensure that no one else is to be killed, according to the prophecy set by the Creators.

See You Again by Charlie Puth also delivers a similar message, except through a different perspective. While the song is in regard to an actor, Paul Walker, which died in a terrible car accident, this musical masterpiece also delivers a sense of sentimentality, similar to how Sacrifice is being presented in James Dashner’s novel.

“It's been a long day without you, my friend And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again We've come a long way from where we began”

- Charlie Puth – See You Again (2015)

The rhyming couplets within the verse itself are so impactful: friend, again, and began. A friend, in this case, would suggest the long friendship built through the people in which we're willing to sacrifice for the sake of others, while “again and began” represent the reflection in which the characters sorrowfully miss and look back upon with their lost companions.

• Paul Walker - (2009)

• Chuck's death - Maze Runner film (2009)

· Growing Up:

‘“And yet he didn’t know where he came from, or how he’d gotten inside the dark lift, or who his parents were. He didn’t even know his last name. Images of people flashed across his mind, but there was no recognition, their faces replaced with haunted smears of color. He couldn’t think of one person he knew, or recall a single conversation.”’ – (pg.5)

At some point in your lives, whether it is your grandparents or your parents, you must have heard this very common phrase: Growing Up. But how is it really shown throughout this novel?

Ultimately, the novel is being seen as an extended metaphor of life. With no possession of their memory or their identity, it is clear that the Gladers are all growing up through this experiment, similar to how a baby is when it is born. They are being appeared into the Glade through the Box which envisioned as a mother’s womb and how Newt and Chuck told Thomas that most of the Gladers spent their first few weeks in the Maze scared, confused, and crying like babies. They were, later on, able to exit the Maze, which symbolizes them moving out into adulthood.

The book sort of portrays the living childhoods of the Gladers as they are building their mental self, day-by-day in the Maze.

This is similar to the song: Grow Up by Olly Murs.

Know you gotta grow up Ain't you sick of being immature? Talkin' loud 'cause you insecure

- Olly Murs – Grow Up (2016)

The lyrics here also correlate with the events occurring within the Maze and how the Gladers deal with the situation. Words such as "immature" and "insecure" are all aspects in which we experience during childhood, similar to how Thomas and the others dealt with in the Glade. With everyone being scared, and perplexed by the environment they are being placed in, they most certainly know that they themselves “gotta grow up” in order to survive.

· Hope:

“You don’t understand shuck-face! You don’t know anything, and you’re just making it worse by trying to have hope! We’re dead, you hear me? Dead!” – (pg.71)

In life, we always wish for some form of hope, whether it be hoping that your schoolteacher does not come to school today to allow yourself an extra day of completing your overdue assignment, or hoping that today’s packed lunch does not contain any of those rancid vegetables.

In this instance, however, hope is being placed through a different matter.

As Thomas believes that he can possibly escort both Minho and Alby to safety, Minho disagrees. Instead, he screams at him for his costly actions. Thomas’s brave persona helped them through a night in the nightmarish labyrinth, proving everyone within the Glade that there is some form of hope in being able to survive within the Maze itself.

Unbreakable by Fireflight presents this theme impeccably,

“Fear it's just a crutch

That tries to hold you back”

- Fireflight – Unbreakable (2008)

The lyric in this final verse is a clear example of what Thomas endures throughout the course of the novel, His persistence to ensure that the Gladers are able to exit the Maze shows to us how fear is actually “just a crutch and how it “tries to hold you back”. Thomas and the others are then able to make it out of the Maze alive after everybody had to be placed into this experiment for the past two years.

• Thomas entering the Maze in attempt to save Alby and Minho - Maze Runner film (2009)

So, what do you think? Do you think that the Maze Runner is all about action in itself? Or is it about brotherhood and trust? Let me know your thoughts by giving me an email:

📧 - georgeyongti.s_gim@gemselearning.com

Playlist links:

=>Spotify:

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=> YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrzZvMH4J3vf7Uc_wOl3M-Xcn0XsPfinN